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Sno Cone Owners Open In New Location After Permit Denied

FORT SMITH (KFSM)– David and Celeste Corbin bought a sno cone stand nearly 12 years ago. They named it Rainbow and parked it on the corner of North 50th S...

FORT SMITH (KFSM)-- David and Celeste Corbin bought a sno cone stand nearly 12 years ago. They named it Rainbow and parked it on the corner of North 50th Street and Kelley Highway in Fort Smith.

The stand stood right across the street from Sutton Elementary. The Corbins said watched many children grow.

"We watched them where they could barely see over the window. All of a sudden they are about this tall and, before you know it, they are in high school and out of college," David Corbin said.

As years passed, Corbin said the sno cone stand became green after his grandchildren voted on the new color. So, he renamed it Pa Pa's Shaved Ice. This spring, just like every year, Corbin said he went to get his operating permit from the city of Fort Smith, but he was denied.

Corbin and his wife decided to set their stand up in Barling instead.

"We will have to wait and see how it goes. It's not like working somewhere else where they hand you a pay check. We're gambling here," Corbin said.

After the news hit Facebook Fort Smith city director Andre Good looked in to the matter.

Good said the denial of the permit is from an ordinance about mobile food trucks. He said the ordinance states that such a business can not operate within 300 feet of a school claiming the nutritional health of students.

As the matter became an issue, city officials offered a solution so the Corbins could continue from their location in Fort Smith. Corbin will have to obtain a letter from Fort Smith Public Schools giving them approval to continue business.

"When the time comes to make the decision we'll make it," Corbin said.

Although the majority of us see this only as an atrocity, not allowing this small business to operate, we also have to look at this in regards to how a well-intended ordinance may have unforeseen consequences," Good said. "Also, we have to look at this as an example of how the city could and should foster better methods of handling unique situations like this,how we treat businesses, individuals trying to permit and people in general who basically are our city's customers. As well as folks that pay taxes that support city positions."

 

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